(Editor's note: For rhetorical purposes, let's pretend that “today” is October 24th, which is when the first paragraph was conceived in a rush of inspiration mixed with Google calendar.)
Exactly one year ago today, I walked onto the MIT campus for the first time and nearly hated it for an entire 12 hours. Cambridge was wrapped in a wet blanket of cold, drippy weather at the time with hardly an ounce of sunlight to spare, and the hotel failed to serve bagels in the morning. I did a campus tour, which was a few decimal places short of exciting, and walked around for the entire infinity of a drizzly afternoon, feeling like an intruder on a well-trimmed private lawn that contained too many people with MacBooks. On the semi-bright side, I had signed up for an overnight visit to spend the night with a real, living MIT student in a real, non-living dorm known as McCormick Hall, but on the dim side, biology and I were no longer on speaking terms while my overnight host was a biology major who got stuck in a lab for most of the day. I mean, I'm sure she was voluntarily stuck there, not that the floors were covered in adhesive materials. At the time, I hadn't yet discovered the unspeakable deliciousness of McCormick's water fountains, so life was fairly joyless.
Somehow, the first night changed everything in a way subtle and inexplicable as the softness of a fresh-baked bagel. Perhaps it was the hilarious conversations I had with my host and her hallmates, or the spontaneous midnight tour of the MIT tunnels, or the fact that my host and I found an elevator in the great outdoors, or the 1 AM run to Simmons Hall, or the tingling discovery that Simmons Hall is supersaturated with tiny windows, or the thrill of hearing student musicians practicing in the Building 4 during the wee hours of the morning, or all of the above, or none of the above, or maybe I imagined it all because I was still struggling to accept the fact that the hotel had no bagels. I woke up on the floor of a dorm room the next morning to a gloriously confusing faceful of carpet and found that my host had slept placidly through her alarm. As we dined fancifully on glasses of cold cereal minutes later, a wonderfully carbonated feeling began to bubble up inside me as I crunched on on corn pops, sitting on a crunchy mattress in one of the greatest, crunchiest learning institutions in the world.
But the truth is, I probably made up the last sentence. In retrospect, 9:00 AM on a Thursday morning in 2007 seems to be a juicy, cooked-to-medium-rare slice of time in which I should have tasted the next four years of my life in blood-searing vividity*. Not so. I ended up telling my friends back home that MIT was only fractionally as exciting as the pamphlets and information sessions would suggest, and they probably believed me until I forced them all to read this blog. The point is, you should always make your friends think you're a huge liar whenever possible**.
*Pardon me, mitBeef is supposed to have a meeting soon.
**Just kidding. No, really.
In the end, my visit was still enough to convince me to apply. At the time, I was still in the papery, testy, AP-classy dawn of my junior year and tossing around the idea of leaving high school a year early until I had tossed myself a nice salad of educational subversiveness dressed with a straight-A, finished-the-hardest-courses-available high school transcript. The secret master plan was that I would start college ASAP if I was accepted to a university that I sincerely and deeply wanted to attend, but otherwise I'd finish high school on schedule and deal with the minor injustices of life like everyone else, except with less spamming. The $65 application fees seemed like a Big Deal, so I ended up slacking off and applying to only one college (to be honest, I estimated that my chances of being accepted anywhere as a junior were fairly slender). Also, I lied to all of my friends again and didn't tell anyone that I was jumping overboard the USS Public High School until I got my acceptance letter in March.
*No, really, you shouldn't lie to your friends, despite the fact that I do it every 10 minutes or so.
Thankfully, it worked out anyway after a most unwelcome rush of last-minute standardized testing. Which is why I'm in Random Hall right now, basking in the company of radiant friends and a friendly radiator, happier and more overworked and did-I-mention-happier than I ever could have believed possible from my first visit.
My desire to convince you of this is so immense that I snapped a few pictures of the bloomingly apocalyptic sunset as I walked across the railroad tracks to Random Hall.
Granted, it's now Wednesday night a week later after I began writing this blog, and I've just crawled through a narrow pipe named the Longest Half-Week of My Life. On the way over here from the far end of Monday, I've plunged through a test, an advising seminar, a spontaneous PE class in which I tried squash for the first time (the sport, not the vegetable), an attempt to register for fencing, 12.5 hours of classes, the acquisition of another part-time job, a frenzy of costume-making, broccoli, the unexpected challenges of dressing as a mailing list for Halloween, study sessions, a Halloween band concert and afterparty, a night of studying*, Paul '12's grandmother's pastry recipes suddenly incarnated in the form of caramelized sugar at 1 AM, late night conversations about the Pope's job benefits, the invention and subsequent enjoyment of the best Spinach Apple Salad that has ever been capitalized in print, four hours of sleep, another test, a Course 15 experiment in which all members of my physics class were given cups of insanely yellow soda with a consent form and a survey, a 3-mile run through riverside corridors of fire-colored leaves and monsoonal winds, a long nap, a phone call, and, as of right now, too many commas.
*Upon my return from the band party, I commenced studying at 9 PM and drove straight through to 3:45 AM, with a few detours for Pope-related conversations, broccoli, Paul's grandmother's pastries, and other roadside attractions that become irresistible when you're running on midnight oil. It was a long night, but I wouldn't have spent it any other way.
What makes it all worth it? The people. Unfortunately, people are mobile and somewhat difficult to photograph, so I instead took pictures of Random Hall. Consider this a tour of the third floor.
I give you the Dinosaur Comic (link) Whiteboard, which is a whiteboard permanently tattooed with the ingenious crappiness of the Qwantz panel sequence. Edward '12, in a fiery rampage of unbridled inspiration, inked up the following masterpiece last Friday. It has something to do with chicken, but critics and reviewers are currently unsure of the unifying theme. Particularly noteworthy is the lower panel closest to the viewer, in which the rate of chicken with respect to chicken is not constant, but rather seems to show monotonic linear increase after a period of approximately-sinusoidal behavior. UROP opportunity, if I ever saw one.
On one side of the Dinosaur Comic is a vertical chessboard mounted to the wall with pieces attached by the magical properties of Velcro. There's also a wall Scrabble board somewhere that seems to be less popular these days.
On the other side is Random Hall's rock-climbing wall, by which I mean a random distributions of nubs stuck onto a wall in the hallway. Sometimes, if I'm in an optimistic state of mind, I try to climb it. I am subsequently reminded of the futility of mankind.
I was taking these pictures while Manishika '12 and I were cooking dinner, but Manishika must have been doing most of the work if I was taking pictures. I felt bad, so I took a picture of her chimerical, hand-painted door.
Upon entering the kitchen and finding that the pasta was almost done, my feeling of badness rushed back. So I took a picture of another door.
Manishika's mother's recipe for Orzo cooked in chicken broth with spinach and pepper induces deliciously warm feelings in all involved. Manishika and I enjoy making it on nights when we're brain-fried from a linguistics problem set.
BMF kitchen at 5:30 PM on a Friday night is only fractionally as bustling as it is later in the night, but never have I seen it completely empty at any hour of the day. This picture only further evidences my hypothesis that in any given room at MIT, at least half the occupants must be engaged in face-to-face bonding time with their laptop/computer screen. However, this picture shows the rare case in which nearly all of them are staring at the same screen.
(Notice the ceiling tiles, which are up for artistic grabs at Random)
At midnight, I stood in the midst of a rising storm and watched pumpkins smashing into wet concrete as they descended from the top of the tallest building in Cambridge. Tell that to me a year ago, and I would have called you a liar and told you to start a blog.
Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)
Posted by: 0 on October 29, 2008
Posted by: Tiffany on October 29, 2008
Posted by: Tiffany on October 29, 2008
Your first sunset photo is awesome, looks like a movie scene.
Last picture, ceiling tiles, who is from Brazil? (Do you know the person's name?)
I know 7 Brazilians at MIT but none of them are in that last picture.
The picture of the door, I didn't know you could also paint outside of your room.
Posted by: Ivan on October 29, 2008
the random thinking outside of the box stuff is amazing.. teach me
Posted by: deng on October 29, 2008
Posted by: Stacy on October 29, 2008
Posted by: 0 on October 29, 2008
Posted by: kimd on October 29, 2008
Posted by: anon on October 29, 2008
Posted by: Alex on October 29, 2008
Posted by: Wiki Wiki on October 29, 2008
Anybody got a clue?
Posted by: Cam on October 29, 2008
Posted by: Reena on October 29, 2008
(*is currently a bit bitter about getting used to the meaning of the equals sign in programming* :p)
Posted by: Reena on October 29, 2008
Posted by: Reena on October 29, 2008
...I don't have much to say. Maybe this is why I haven't been commenting that much.
Posted by: Dane on October 29, 2008
Error: Undeclared variables. Code fails to compile.
(I personally enjoy the idea of "photos" as a pointer for "gorgeous")
Posted by: Yan Z. on October 29, 2008
Awesome post! XD
I look forward to reading more! (and maybe experiencing all this first-hand
Posted by: Jamo. G on October 30, 2008
STOP TAKING PICTURES OF FOOD YOU'RE MAKING ME HUNGRY AHHHHH
Posted by: Oasis '11 on October 30, 2008
Your blogs are a real good read! May I please ask what was your SAT Score. Range will do. Just curious.
Thanks and keep blogging.
Posted by: Frittos on October 30, 2008
But seriously, the pictures are all really nice. Especially the sunset ones :]
(I'm a sucker for scenic pics)
Seriously though, chicken....?
I still have no idea what that means.
Posted by: Edward on October 30, 2008
And I wish I could write like you- so witty...
Posted by: Anonymous on October 30, 2008
Posted by: Tristam on October 30, 2008
I'm going to say between 700 and 800 for every section. MIT admissions basically considers 700 to be the same thing as 800, by the way, so there's no point in retaking any section if you get at least a 700.
It's just numbers, after all.
@ Anonymous:
There's an anomalously high number of anomalously young people at MIT. At least two other people in my pre-orientation group were also a year younger than most people in their grade (so that makes 3 out of 32 people). Then again, there's also stories of 15 year old sophomores and such.
Again, it's just numbers.
Posted by: Yan Z. on October 30, 2008
Oh gosh, that's me. I've got 4 of those to battle through. It's times like these I kinda hate being home schooled--I gotta prove to college that I actually know something.
Anyway, this post was more gorgeously awesome than usual, Yan. Punny funs ("radiant friends and a friendly radiator"), great pictures (esp. the sunset one--that wasn't photoshopped, was it?) and the intimate look into your application and first visit to MIT. Thanks muchly.
Question: Did you do an interview as part of the application process, and what was it like?
@Reena
You get used to that. :D What PL do you use, Java? C++?
string YanZ_Blog = "Win" + " Awesome";
if (YanZ_Blog == "Win Awesome")
cout < "Party like it's 1999." << endl;
else
cout << "You're a liar."
//Actually, that's kinda lame and doesn't make much sense. That's what I get for learning VB this sem--it dumb'ed down my programming skillz.
Posted by: Nicholas on October 30, 2008
Posted by: thales on October 30, 2008
@Nicolas:
scanf("%s", &your;_comment)
printf("Thanks!")
On a similar note: Last Friday, someone upstairs converted the operation instructions for the expresso machine into code.
The sunset pictures were processed slightly but not photoshopped because I lack time/skills/photoshop.
I did do an interview and definitely recommend it, despite the fact that mine was short and not very exciting or comforting. But, it's always a good idea to interview.
Posted by: Yan on October 30, 2008
OK, thanks. I'll get in contact with my area's EC.
My code did not come out right for some reason.......maybe it mistook it for html...or someone deleted it?....the cout after the if was supposed to print out "Party like it's 1999," and the cout after else was supposed to print "You're a liar." Hrm.
"On a similar note: Last Friday, someone upstairs converted the operation instructions for the expresso machine into code. "
Explain. You mean you have to code the espresso machine to make coffee now? Or that someone wrote a program simulating an espresso machine's op-instructions?
Posted by: Nicholas on October 30, 2008
Your code showed up correctly earlier today. Not sure what happened.
The intention was to have the expresso machine's instructions be written in code so that only Course 6 people could make coffee in the mornings. Or maybe to encourage freshmen to major in comp. sci. At least, that's my suspicion.
Posted by: Yan on October 30, 2008
Ah, OK. Well, that's cool (my potential major is comp sci). What kind of code? Python?
Posted by: Nicholas on October 30, 2008
Posted by: Nicholas on October 30, 2008
my purpose in learning programming is actually to use it for earthsci. i'm kind of terrible with computers, terrible enough that learning how to ftp was a huge accomplishment
or maybe it's just windows.
boolean reenaGetsAlongWithComputer;
string op_System;
if (op_System == windows) { ...
Posted by: Reena on October 30, 2008
Thus, if she ever decides to apply to MIT so that I can get heritage points, (not that I need any, of course, since Kaitlyn Gao's my cousin, obviously), she may be be confused for you on the forums.
btw. Your photos are gorgeous.
Posted by: Yan P. Z. on October 30, 2008
Posted by: lulu on October 30, 2008
Posted by: Molly ('13?) on October 30, 2008
Posted by: ShawnOfAwesome '11 on October 31, 2008
Posted by: Ahana on October 31, 2008
How can anyone have so much time to meticuously sit and paint their doors like that?? -seems strange...
@Nicholas/Yan/anyone who could ans!
Was that C++? (you see,I'm learning that right now so I don't know if all languages have roughly the same base or not).
This :"the rate of chicken with respect to chicken is not constant, but rather seems to show monotonic linear increase after of approximately-sinusoidal behavior" was an awesome line!
And I second Ahana's comment!
Posted by: Vaibhav on November 1, 2008
It's probably just Windows.
what happens
if (op_System == "linux")?
@Vaibhav:
I used C++, yeah. Java and C/C++ are all incredibly similar, though.
Posted by: Nicholas on November 1, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_-1d9OSdk
Posted by: harrison '12 on November 1, 2008
Whoever painted those did a Really Great Job.
Posted by: Rachel on November 2, 2008
Posted by: 0 on November 2, 2008
Posted by: Y on November 2, 2008
I took AP World History and AP Calc. AB during sophomore year. That year, the school ordered an extra AP Lit test, so I ended up taking that one too even though I didn't take the class until junior year.
5 on APWH- counted for 9 general elective units. Honestly, I'm still not sure what that means.
5 on Calc. AB- I ended up taking calc. at St. Louis University the next year, so I had transfer credit for single and multivariable. If I hadn't, the 5 would have gotten me into the accelerated single variable class at MIT.
5 on English- Didn't have to take the Freshman essay evaluation.
AP/IB tests taken in junior year: Zilch.
I would recommend doing Calc. BC and AP Physics C if nothing else. None of the other AP tests are as useful, transfer-wise.
More info: http://web.mit.edu/firstyear/transfer/credit/ap.html
Posted by: Yan on November 2, 2008
Posted by: Ahana on November 3, 2008
Posted by: Y on November 4, 2008
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